[Hard for me =
to ‘fess up’ but wanted you all to know this]
**When =
I was young, I was poor. But after years of hard, honest and =
painstaking work, I’m no longer young.
**I love to =
wear a fanny pack, but wonder if you wear it over the gut or underneath =
it? Thanks. I don’t want to look like a =
dork.
**My wife =
asked me why I spoke so softly in the house. I said I was afraid =
Mark Zuckerberg was listening. She laughed. I laughed. Alexa =
laughed. Siri laughed.
**I should not =
have eaten so many Rice Krispies as a kid. Even now when I get up =
from my chair, I hear the familiar snap, crackle, pop from all over my =
body.
**I have found =
that when I tell folks that the iconic ‘cheese head’ was =
first worn at Brewer’s games, not Packer’s, my knowledge of =
history is not appreciated.
~~ANSWERS TO =
MONDAY’S ENGLISH WORDS QUIZ~~
English has =
more than a million words. 200,000 are used “commonly” =
and of these “commonly used” words, just 43 comprise =
HALF! More astounding, of those 43 words, 9 account for 25% of the =
words English speakers/writers use!!
1. List the 9 =
most commonly-used words in English. (any order)
a =
AND
b =
BE
c =
HAVE
d =
IT
e =
OF
f =
THE
g =
TO
h =
WILL
i =
YOU
2. Almost half =
of all words commonly used are verbs. Try your hand at listing the 12 =
most common verbs (any order)
a =
SAY
b =
GET
c =
GO
d =
KNOW
e =
THINK
f =
SEE
g =
MAKE
h =
COME
i =
TAKE
j =
WANT
k =
GIVE
l =
MEAN
Now some =
easier questions:
3. How many =
distinct sounds are in English?
a Vowels =
22
b Consonants =
22
4. What is the =
most common vowel sound?
SCHWA (a cross =
between eh and uh – the second sound in the word animal. It =
is found in almost every multi-syllabic word in =
English)
5. What letter =
combination has more pronunciations than any =
other?
OUGH (here are =
some: bough, bought, cough, dough, hiccough, rough, thoroughbred, =
through, trough
6. The single =
syllable that sounds like “air” can be spelled in how many =
ways?
38 including =
air, ere, heir, hare,
7. What =
percentage of English words are NOT spelled phonetically (the way they =
sound)?
80%
8. What =
5-letter word is the only word that retrains its pronunciation even if 4 =
letters are removed?
QUEUE
9. What three =
English words end in “-gry”?
a =
ANGRY
b =
HUNGRY
c ANHUNGRY =
(archaic, obsolete) was used by Shakespeare in Coriolanus (Act I, scene =
1, line 209)
10. Is there =
an English word that uses all the vowels including “y”? =
This question =
wasn’t added FACETIOUSLY. There are UNQUESTIONABLY and UNEQUIVABLY =
over 100 such words
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
"Jesus Knows Me, This I =
Love!"